Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the National Disability Strategy published on 28 July 2021, which of his Department’s commitments in that strategy that have not been paused as a result of legal action have (a) been fully, (b) been partially and (c) not been implemented.

In January 2022, the High Court declared the National Disability Strategy (NDS) was unlawful because the UK Disability Survey, which informed it, was held to be a voluntary consultation that failed to comply with the legal requirements on public consultations. The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office had three policies included in the National Disability Strategy. These included:

• Commitment 1: Launch the enhanced FCDO Disability Inclusion Strategy and embedding disability rights in the new International Development Strategy in 2021
• Commitment 2: Make the UK's Official Development Assistance spend - £10 billion in 2021 to 2022 - disability inclusive
• Commitment 3: Establish a new FCDO External Disability Board, first meeting to take place by December 2021

We have completed the first and third commitments with the publication of the FCDO Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy in February 2022, and the establishment of an External Disability Board. The second commitment is ongoing. As detailed in the Disability Inclusion and Rights Strategy, the FCDO takes a twin-track approach, with targeted support through disability-specific interventions in key sectors alongside mainstreaming disability inclusion across FCDO's work. We remain fully committed to supporting disabled people globally through creating more opportunities, protecting their rights and ensuring they fully benefit from, and can contribute to, every aspect of our society. To support this, the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office will be providing further details of our recent achievements to improve disabled people's lives in the forthcoming Disability Action Plan consultation due for publication in the summer. Ahead of this, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work will write providing a list of these achievements and will place a copy in the House Library.